CLIFFORD FAIPARIK
THE vast and rugged Kairuku-
Hiri electorate in Central with
over 125,000 people is expected to
be split before the 2022 national
elections, MP Peter Isoaimo says.
“We have people living along the
coastline, rivers and mountains in
our huge 10,215km square land
mass. I’m happy now that the electorate
is set to be split,” he said.
“In fact it was supposed to happen
in the January Parliament sitting. But
there were some discrepancies in the
Electoral Boundaries Commission
(EBC) report which was not from us,
but in the other electorates. It was to
do with land mapping, land demarcation
with the National Mapping
Bureau. And so the reports were sent
back to EBC again.
“But it will come back again in the
February 18 sitting. The EBC Report
has already been vetted by the National
Executive Council and Government
Caucus and sent back to the
EBC. It will come back and this time
will go straight to the floor of the
Parliament.”
Isoaimo said that when he became
the MP during the by election in
2014, he has always advocated for
this electorate to split.
“Our electorate is vast unlike
Goilala (38,000 people), Abau
(56,000) and Rigo (45,000) with
lesser population and smaller landmasses,”
he said.
“In Kairuku-Hiri we have a population
of 125,584 and so we qualify
for another electorate. This is why I
had been advocating since I came in
for split in this electorate.
And I’m happy to announce that
we got the Government’s attention
and the EBC had done their round. I
gave my concern for the split in this
electorate because it’s just impossible
for one person to be serving two
districts (Kairuku and Hiri) altogether.”
Isoaimo said that: “We all get the
same District Service Improvement
Program money (K10 million) but in
my case I have to split between two
districts unlike Goilala Abau and
Rigo. So for us to achieve tangible
developments, it’s impossible.
“We even submit for Public Investment
Program funding but there
is lot of politics played inside. And
I’ve done the best as we could. To
move around this electorate, I cover
all modes of transportation.
In North Mekeo I go on the river
by boat for six hours, in Mt Koiari I
go by helicopter or small plane if that
village I want to visit has an airstrip.
In Hiri west coast areas I go by sea
by boat and the rest of the electorate,
I travel by car. But with little that
God bless us with we try our very
best to bless as many people as we
can.”
